Quarterback decision tops San Jose State's training camp objectives

SAN JOSE -- If San Jose State's players share third-year coach Mike MacIntyre's enthusiasm for the start of training camp, the Spartans should bring a lot of energy this season.

"It's great to be out here," MacIntyre said. "It's like Christmas to me. It's a blast."

Training camp officially got underway for San Jose State when the Spartans hit the field Friday. The team participated in a morning walk-through with its first practice taking place in the afternoon.

The walk-through was an idea borrowed from MacIntyre's NFL connections to have the team better prepared for practice time. NCAA rules permit only one practice per day the first five days of camp and the walk-through doesn't count because there's no equipment involved.

"They know what we want to do better, and I think we'll have more carry-over and less mistakes and we'll get more accomplished in practice," MacIntyre said.

With camp underway in preparation for the Spartans' opener Aug. 31 at Stanford, there are four major areas they will need to address.

Who's the QB?

David Fales emerged from spring camp as the favorite to start the season at quarterback. The transfer from Monterey Peninsula College was impressive in the Spartans' spring game and has the advantage of starting for two years at the junior college level.

"The best (quarterback) in the NFL right now was a junior college quarterback," MacIntyre said, referring to Aaron Rodgers. "That's a good training ground for a quarterback."

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Dasmen Stewart, who made two starts last season, and Blake Jurich also will fight for the job with freshman Joe Gray expected to get some reps as the Spartans look to replace 3,000-yard passer Matt Faulkner.

Replacing Duke

MacIntyre expects the front seven to be the defense's strength, which is a good thing given the loss of safety Duke Ihenacho, a three-time first-team All-WAC selection.

Cullen Newsome takes over for Ihenacho. He started last year's season finale and had 10 tackles in the win over Fresno State.

James Orth returns as a starter at the other safety position, and Ronnie Yell and Tyler Ervin top the depth chart at cornerback. That group will collectively need to keep pace with last year's crew, which was part of a unit that ranked first in the WAC in passing defense, allowing 221.3 yards per game.

Establish key RBs

De'Leon Eskridge, a former Serra High-San Mateo star, could be an impact player in his lone season with the Spartans.

He sat out last season after transferring from Minnesota, where he was the Golden Gophers leading rusher in two of his three seasons. He ran for 1,670 yards and 17 touchdowns in three years at Minnesota.

Senior David Freeman is a one-time transfer from Washington who missed the final nine games of last season with a broken arm. He started the first three games last year before the injury.

Jalynn McCain, a true freshman from Houston, also could contend for playing time.

Strengthen the line

Left tackle David Quessenberry and right guard Nicholas Kaspar are entrenched as returning starters, but the other three spots need replacements.

Ruben Hasani (center), Ryan Jones (left guard) and Jon Meyer (right tackle) are in line to start, with Keith Bendixen and Wes Schweitzer also fighting for jobs and looking to provide depth.

"We've got a couple offensive linemen that have started on and off, we've just got to find which ones of those are going to be our starters," MacIntyre said.